Posted: Fri, May 17, 2002, 7:54 PM ET (2354 GMT)
Arianespace announced Friday that the company recorded a loss of 193 million euros (US$178 million) in 2001, nearly four times larger than the company previously estimated. The company blamed the loss on a corporate decision to take charges because of the "rapidly deteriorating" commercial launch market, as well as the company's stand-down after a July 2001 Ariane 5 launch failure. The company had previously estimated a loss of 50 million euros (US$46 million) back in January, and a Space News article published this week estimated a loss of 100 million euros (US$92 million). The loss was still less than the 242 million euros (US$223 million) the company lost in 2000, but revenues were also lower by several hundred million euros in 2001. The company announced it was creating an "aggressive action plan" to return the company to the breakeven point, but did not provide any details about the plan. Arianespace did note that the company had successfully carried out six of the 13 launches it planned for 2002.